The Most Outrageous Snubs in Emmy History

Popular and critical opinion aren’t always in agreement. Since the nominees for the 70th Annual Emmy Awards, airing tonight on NBC, were announced this past July, fans have lamented Killing Eve’s lack of recognition in the Outstanding Drama category; the absence of acting nominations for the women of This is Us; and the exclusion of the revived Twin Peaks from the race altogether.

In a way, it’s just part of the experience—the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has a long history of snubbing favorites. But which incidents have been the most egregious? A look back at Emmy wins that infamously never were:

Nominated But Never Won

Kim Cattrall was nominated five times for her supporting role as Samantha Jones on Sex and the City. In 2004, the only year that the show won for acting, the glory went to costars Sarah Jessica Parker, who took home best actress, and Cynthia Nixon, who won Best Supporting Actress.

Steve Carell was a fixture of the aughts for playing Michael Scott on The Office, but he never got awarded for his work. The show itself did win for best comedy, writing, but the only thing Carell took home was the (much warranted) award of Best Boss Ever.

Hugh Laurie is best known for his eponymous role on House, and the voting members recognized this: He was nominated six times for Best Actor but never walked away with a statue. It’s worth noting, too, that the show only won for writing and never won as best series of the year.

Martin Sheen will always be the president of our dreams after The West Wing, but despite the fact that Toby Ziegler (Richard Schiff), CJ Cregg (Allison Janney), Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford), and Leo McGarry (John Spencer) were awarded for their acting chops, President Bartlet’s six nominations never amounted to a win.

Tracy Morgan got his start on Martin and Saturday Night Live, but his true legacy will be his role as 30 Rock’s leading funnyman Tracy Jordan. Despite the fact that TGS With Tracy Jordan couldn’t go on without him, Morgan only received one nomination and never took home a win.

Angela Lansbury is everyone’s favorite detective, and she should be idolized for her long-running role as Jessica Fletcher on Murder, She Wrote. But she was never able to take home an Emmy, despite being nominated 12 (!) times for her sleuthing.

Jerry Seinfeld was nominated five times for his portrayal of a fictional version of himself, but he never actually took home the gold. It’s worth noting, too, that on-screen pal Jason Alexander was in the same boat—he was nominated seven times for his supporting role as George Costanza (he lost out to Seinfeld costar Michael Richards three times).

Christine Baranski’s portrayal of Diane Lockhart on The Good Wife is unquestionably one of her most glorious, but despite being nominated six times, the ATAS never gave her an award for the role—and has yet to recognize her work on The Good Fight, the spinoff in which she stars. (Baranski did, however, score one Emmy win in 1995 for the role of Maryann Thorpe on Cybill.)

Michael C. Hall as Dexter Morgan is one of those pairings where you think, well, nobody else in the world could’ve played this character quite like him. And the nominations he was awarded—five, total, for Dexter—suggest that the voters thought so, too, despite never awarding him the gold.

Amy Poehler was nominated six times for her role as Leslie Knope on Parks and Recreation but never saw a win. The good news? A year after the show ended, she did finally pick up a Creative Arts Emmy for her hosting duties on SNL in 2016.

Keri Russell will always be our hair inspiration from her days as the curly-haired lead on Felicity, but she never earned an Emmy nod for that show. She was similarly snubbed for her performance on The Americans until 2016. Having picked up her third straight nomination this year, fingers crossed she’ll finally break the streak.

Never Nominated for Acting

Courteney Cox was a TV comedy staple for nearly two decades, and yet neither her portrayal of Monica Geller on Friends nor her leading-lady role as Jules Cobb on Cougar Town resulted in a nomination for best actress.

Andy Griffith is one of those people who everyone recognizes as legendary, yet he wasn’t once nominated for his self-titled role on The Andy Griffith Show, nor for playing Matlock on Matlock. Maybe the voters don’t like eponymous leads?

Lauren Graham as Lorelai Gilmore, one-half of The Gilmore Girls, didn’t score a single nomination for her portrayal, despite being a single mother to Rory and surrogate mom to the teenagers of America who came of age between 2000 and 2007.

Katey Sagal has had a genuine streak of bad luck when it comes to awards shows: While she had critically acclaimed roles on Sons of Anarchy and, going back even further, Married With Children, she has never been granted a nomination in the supporting or lead actress category.

Desi Arnaz’s role on I Love Lucy defined an era of comedy, but even after all those incomprehensible Spanglish fights, he never scored an Emmy nomination.

Never Nominated for a Series

The Wire will always be the number one biggest Emmy snub of all time. The show was not recognized for any of its great work across acting, writing, directing, or for the fact that it was a much-watched TV program for its entire run on HBO. For shame, Emmys.

Party Down is one of those shows that can’t be adequately described on paper (was there ever a more perfect cult comedy?). Unfortunately, the rowdy-yet-charming bunch never picked up any nominations for the Starz program.

Oz is the quintessential prison program, but never got acknowledged for its powerful performances and gritty realism by the nominating committee.

Freaks and Geeks only lasted one season, but it’s still lauded as one of the best shows on TV. Despite the series’s coming-of-age struggles in a suburban mid-American town and all-star cast, Judd Apatow’s phenomenal dram-com never earned a single nomination.

Veronica Mars reinvented itself several years ago through a Kickstarter-funded movie, which blew the target goal out of the water and delighted fans everywhere. But back when it was on the CW, the show never got nominated for its phenomenal acting, nor was it recognized as a Best Drama contender.

Battlestar Galactica reinvigorated an entire fan community when the reimagined version came out in 2004, but the show was never nominated for best drama series. It was, however, recognized for writing, special effects, and directing.

Roseanne was nominated on the acting front continuously—for John Goodman, Sara Gilbert, Laurie Metcalf (who was also recognized this year, for her work on the show’s short-lived reboot), and, of course, Roseanne Barr—but it was never recognized in the best comedy category.

The Brady Bunch was not as popular as you’d think when it was actually on the air. Instead, it got a huge amount of traction after its run, which explains why it never got a nomination.

Orphan Black’s fan base spent years petitioning for the show to get nominated and (ideally) awarded an Emmy, and while the show hasn’t been granted one, they have succeeded in rallying for lead actress Tatiana Maslany. After a nomination in 2015 and a win in 2016, Maslany has another chance to take home the gold on Monday.